Cambridge Audio S30

Cambridge Audio have carved themselves a rather attractive niche in recent years as one of the best budget audiophile brands. Despite costing a good 30% less than almost all their counterparts, they’ve delivered strings of fine products, as proved by glowing reviews and a string of What HiFi 5 star ratings.

Cambridge Audio have carved themselves a rather attractive niche in recent years as one of the best budget audiophile brands. Despite costing a good 30% less than almost all their counterparts, they’ve delivered strings of fine products, as proved by glowing reviews and a string of What HiFi 5 star ratings.

For those of you that already know the company, it should therefore come as no surprise that their latest update of their cheap bookshelf speakers, the S30s, perform impeccably. They weigh in at about £130 RRP, but for your money you get so much more than just a bit more punch. Place these with the simplest of systems and they’ll still deliver every range unbelievably well.

To test them I played Azari & III’s eponymous debut and they matched every hint of treble and high while still maintaining the clarity that such a crisp album requires. My one criticism would be that they did make the bass seem slightly too loud - it lacked depth and felt muddy, but that is only minor and it could still provide an ample resolution of sound to satisfy.